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Devils: Streaky Michael Ryder confident he'll find net again soon

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Devils right wing Michael Ryder had a great chance to end his goal drought on this overtime breakaway last Friday night in Nashville, but his backhander was stopped by Predators goalie Carter Hutton.
(Don McPeak/USA TODAY Sports)

NEWARK - A second or two is all the time Devils right wing Michael Ryder had to pick a move on his overtime breakaway Friday night in Nashville.

Defenseman Andy Greene had swung the puck from the left-wing boards in the Jersey end to center ice and Ryder was in the right place at the right time.

Ryder blew by the two Nashville players who were up high, jetted into the Predators end with speed, picked up the puck at the blue line and opted to used a forehand-to-backhand move on goalie Carter Hutton.

Three weeks ago, the streaky veteran would have roofed that baby into the back of the net and the Devils would have celebrated a 3-2 win.

Now in a goal-scoring slump, Ryder was robbed with a left-pad save by Hutton, who froze the puck. Nine seconds later, a face-off win by Nashville in the Jersey end led to a 2 on 2 rush, a drop pass and then a game-winning goal by Shea Weber from the low slot.

"I'd like to have that one back definitely," said Ryder, whose Devils are home Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche. "I should have probably sold the fake a little more to make him bite on it. I still almost had it, but he made a great save on it. It sucks that they scored the next shift right after."

That’s the way it’s been going of late for Ryder, whose 16 goals led the Devils until he was caught and passed during this drought by Jaromir Jagr.

Devils coach Pete DeBoer is aware of the slump, but he's also seen Ryder create a bunch of scoring chances of late that, for whatever reason, didn't end up in the net.

Before the team’s Super Bowl Sunday practice, DeBoer met with Ryder to keep his spirits up.

"He is getting good chances,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said after a Super Bowl Sunday practice. "I had a chat with him today. He's just gotta keep shooting. There’s a lot of streaky guys in this league. David Clarkson was a similar type guy. They score in bunches. When they go in, everything goes in. And when they don't, they don’t.

“If the chances start to dry up, I’ll really be concerned, but I think he's getting quality looks. He could have easily had a goal in every game we played last week."

Ryder put four shots on net against Nashville, two the night before in Dallas and three last Tuesday in St. Louis.

During the 10-game drought, he has 26 shots, a 2.6 per game average. That tops his 2.0 season average, which is third best on the Devils behind Jagr (2.5) and Eric Gelinas (2.1).

"I'm getting the chances, but they're not going in right now," Ryder said. "You can't get frustrated with it. When they don't go in the net, you just have to keep shooting and don't get away from that. When you stop shooting, then you don't get your chances. They're going to go in eventually for me."

Ryder doesn’t get discouraged. The 33-year-old Newfoundland product is laid back as it is, and he’s been down this road enough to realize lengthy hot and cold goal streaks seem to be part of his hockey DNA.

He had four goals in his first nine games this season, six in 11 games from Dec. 2 to Dec. 23, then four in four and five in six just before this latest dry spell.

When scoring 16 goals for Dallas and Montreal last season, Ryder had stretches of two goals in 17 games, 10 goals in 12 games and none in nine. The season before he had eight goals in eight games and then none in 10 en route to a career-high 35-goal campaign for Dallas.

"It happens sometimes," Ryder said. "You'd definitely like to be consistent, but if it doesn't go in, you can't really change much up. You've gotta go out and play, try to do the right things, play the team system and get those pucks in the net to help us win some hockey games."